9:29 PM,
Feb. 13, 2014

George Ferris' wheel was a major moneymaker at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

Written by

In 1891, architect and city planner Daniel Burnham delivered a speech to a convention of engineers about his plans for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, which was to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' landing in the Americas.

Burnham was excited about the early plans for the exposition but was concerned that he had not yet found an idea that could compare to the dramatic aesthetic and financial success of Gustave Eiffel's iron lattice tower that captured the crowds at the 1889 World's Fair in Paris, which celebrated the 100th anniversary of the French ...